AURORA – Months after he formed an exploratory committee, state Sen. Chris Lauzen, R-Aurora, announced his plans to run for Congress.

Lauzen made his official announcement Wednesday morning to a crowd of supporters and others assembled at Garfield Park in Aurora. He will seek the 14th Congressional District seat currently held by Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Plano. Hastert, the former House speaker, who will not seek re-election in 2008.

“So fasten your seat belts, I’m running for Congress,” Lauzen said to the cheers of the crowd.

The announcement kicked off a three-day, eight-county tour with 26 stops throughout the district.

Lauzen said his campaign would be a volunteer-based one “mobilizing people versus the power of money and clout.”

In the primary, Lauzen, who has served in the state Senate for 15 years and is the ranking Republican on the Revenue Committee, will face Kevin Burns, the two-term mayor of Geneva, and Aurora dairyman Jim Oberweis, who has run several high-profile campaigns but has never held office.

His first focus is on that primary campaign, Lauzen said.

“I never assume a thing,” he said.

Lauzen took the offensive against his two GOP competitors in his speech, calling himself “the only traditional conservative in the Republican primary” and criticizing the style of politicking Oberweis used in his failed U.S. Senate and Illinois gubernatorial bids.

“I know there are candidates out there who will spend millions on robotic telephone calls and TV commercials filled with false promises,” Lauzen said. “No one should be able to buy public office.”

Burns fired back on Wednesday, issuing a release saying Lauzen’s three-day, eight-county, 26-stop tour was a knock-off of Burns’ own two-day, eight-county, 11-stop tour last month.

“It is proof positive that imitation is the greatest form of flattery,” Burns said in the statement.

Lauzen defined himself as against abortion, in favor of the “traditional family” and also in favor of the Second Amendment. He declined to state his position on Iraq, saying that he will fully outline his stance in a planned position paper.

His son, Ted is currently in the Marine Corps training base at Quantico, Va.